Re: 3.5" drive(s) with //e - how?

[hirsch@air.steve.net (Steven N. Hirsch)]

In article <19970827230341817178@dempson.actrix.gen.nz>, David Empson wrote:

>Edhel Iaur, Esq. <LOSETHECAPITALWORDSedhel@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 18 Aug 1997 19:14:12 GMT, aw133@lafn.org (James Poore) wrote:
>> 
>> >They are called Unidisk 3.5 Drives and will need the Apple UDC card in
>> >order for them to work.
>> 
>> UniDisk 3.5s don't need a card as robust as the UDC (made/sold by
>> Central Point)--it will work, tho.
>

>I have seen reports from some people that the UniDisk 3.5 does _not_
>work with the Universal Disk Controller card.  (I've never had a working
>UDC, so I haven't been able to verify this myself.)
>
>There is a possibility that there are two versions of the UDC card (e.g.
>different firmware) and the UniDisk 3.5 only works with one of them.
>
>Can anyone confirm or deny this?  Has anyone ever had a UniDisk 3.5
>running on a UDC (as opposed to an Apple 3.5 Drive, which _does_ work
>with a UDC)?

I'll confirm this.  There are at least two levels of firmware
available for the Central Point UDC.  The older of them will support
the UniDisk 3.5, albeit with some occasional flakiness.  There are
also two major hardware revs of the board itself:  One is large-ish
and has many discrete components, the newer unit has a flat-pack VLSI
chip that incorporates much of the logic.

I have used the UniDisk EPROM with both of them.  CP probably dropped
the UniDisk support due to its lack of reliability.  One quirk that I
remember involves the board "taking a set" in a non-operating mode;
clearing only when the machine is shut down completely for ~2-3
minutes.  YMMV.

Steve